Young student athlete talks about his journey with basketball

Jordan Fierro is a junior at Summit Public School: Tahoma. He loves to play basketball in his free time, and he shared his passion for the sport in an interview.

1. What sport do you play?

Tahoma junior Jordan Fierro

“I love to play basketball.”

2. How long have you been playing basketball? Who got you into it? Who encouraged you along the way?

“I’ve been playing since I was able to walk,” Fierro said. “My parents got me into it because they would always watch basketball with me on the TV. I started playing with my dad, and he always kept me going.”

3. How did you get into basketball?

“I got into basketball because I just liked watching NBA players play and playing with my friends. I grew up watching Allen Iverson, and I always loved how good he was at dribbling. I would practice dribbling with my dad, and I would play with my friends on our block.”

4. How has that sport helped you grow as a person?

“As a person, it helped me grow a lot because, like you know, I worked with the coaches, and they’re teaching me things, things I didn’t learn myself or didn’t know myself already. It made me learn how to work with a team, instead of doing things individually.”

5. Have you had any setbacks as a player?

“I think football was a setback for me,” Fierro said, “because I liked playing football more than basketball, and then over the years I started to like basketball more, so I feel like I lost a few years of practice I could’ve had, but it wasn’t really a setback. Basketball just made me stop or not like football anymore, or as much.”

6. How has that sport influenced how you interact with people?

“It makes it easier to interact with new people, you know? Because, like, you’re interacting with new players all the time. You see new players every game, so yea it’s your competition sometimes, so it’s like, ‘Yo, I don’t like you, you’re the competition,’ but at the same time it’s really not like that. It’s a friendly competition, so it helps with the outside world because you can go talk to somebody and not be shy.”

7. Do you think that playing on the court teaches you some morals that you cannot teach in a classroom? Why?

“I think yes, because teamwork makes the dream work, so, without the team, the dream won’t work. Teamwork plays a big factor in basketball. Your teachers can’t teach you how to work with people. In basketball, you kinda get brought together, winning games and losing games.”

8. How can you apply those morals in your life?

“I think teamwork helps me in life because it helps me talk to people I don’t know more easily,” Fierro said. “I can also adapt to working with people I don’t know in a classroom when the teacher puts us in groups to work. I think when I’m older and have a job this is going to help me because I need to able to work with people for almost any job.”

9. How do you adapt to new players on your team?

“I get along with almost everybody. I’m not a hard person to get along with because I know that in basketball to win, you have to work together. You don’t have to be friends with everyone. You just have to be able to work with them.”

10. Do you recommend this sport to others? Why?

“I recommend basketball to any player or anybody because basketball brings players together. Well, any sport brings players together because of teamwork. All sports, just play sports. It’s a good thing.”